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Crockpot chicken and veggies

Jan 26th, 2012
by ben.
1 comment

Crockpot Chicken and Veggies

Date: 1/18/2012

Recipe: http://mamaandbabylove.com/2011/04/05/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker-recipes/

Modifications: We halved the amount of chicken from 2lbs to 1lb, just because it seemed like a lot of chicken.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 8 hours crockpot

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This dish was meh. The original recipe calls it “barbecue” chicken, but I hesitate to use that word because it doesn’t taste like barbecue at all. We found this recipe to be oddly bland, and when we make it again we’ll for sure add more spices and salt to it. We have another bag of this in the freezer that we’ll most likely use when Erin is on maternity leave in a couple months. I DO like this method of prepping dishes though, as all you need to do is chop your vegetables, mix everything together, and freeze it – no cooking at all. We’re going to try this method with chili and see how it goes.

Annie was in a MOOD tonight and had none of this.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken freezer meal

Crockpot BBQ Chicken freezer meal

Crockpot Chicken and Veggies

 

Muffaletta sandwiches

Jan 16th, 2012
by ben.
3 comments

Muffaletta

Date: 1/16/2012

Recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/09/dinner-tonight-muffaletta-sandwich.html

Modifications: I didn’t use olives in the “olive salad”, which probably makes this not authentic but I don’t really care. Neither Erin nor I like olives. I also did not use the mortadella, because that is always the stuff that looks so gross at the deli case.

Time to table: 15 minutes prep, 3 hours waiting time.

Servings: 3 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: I came by this recipe when Bill posted about their muffaletta experience a few months ago. I drooled over his picture for a long time before finally getting around to trying it ourselves and this was a fantastic sandwich. I wish I would have used more oil in our olive salad so that more would have soaked into the bread. Annie promptly took hers apart and ate just the meat and cheese first before going after the bread.

Muffaletta

Annie picking apart the muffaletta

Crock pot jambalaya

Jan 12th, 2012
by ben.
No comments yet

Jambalaya

Date: 1/9/2012

Recipe: From Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes, Judith Finlayson

1 lb Italian sausage

2 onions, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

2 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp dried chopped oregano

1/ tsp cracked black peppercorns

1 cup pearl barely, thoroughly rinsed under cold running water

1 28 oz can coarsely chopped tomatoes, including liquid

3 cups chicken stock

8 oz medium shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped

  1. In a nonstick skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up with a spoon until no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Drain all but 1 Tbsp of fat from pan. Reduce hear to medium.
  1. Add onions to pan and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, chili pepper, Cajun seasoning, oregano, salt, and peppercorns, stirring for one minute. Add barely and stir well. Add tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil.
  1. Pour mixture over sausage and stir. Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIG 3-4 hours. Add shrimp and roasted red pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH for 20 minutes, until shrimp is heated through.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 8 hours cook time

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We made this recipe a couple years ago, but it seemed different and I think we both liked it way more this time for some reason. Annie very much enjoyed this, unless a piece of shrimp got anywhere near her mouth. That went right back in the bowl. She also enjoyed the pear she had for dessert.

Pears for dessert

Adobo seasoned chicken and rice

Jan 1st, 2012
by ben.
No comments yet

Adobo Chicken and Rice

Date: 12/18/2011

Recipe: http://www.deliciousmeliscious.com/2011/12/adobo-seasoned-chicken-and-rice.html

Modifications: I’ve never heard of, nor could we find, tomato powder, so we substituted tomato paste. We used boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well so we didn’t have as much meat as the original recipe called for.

Time to table: 60 minutes

Servings: 6 adult servings

Ben: Like

Erin: Like+

Annie: Like

Notes: I wasn’t really excited for this recipe but it surprised me, I really liked it a lot. More than that I liked that it’s very adaptable so you can take this same process and make many different variations. Annie claimed she was done after a few bites, but then shockingly found her appetite again when the grapes were brought out.
Adobo Chicken and Rice

Tortellini Salad

Dec 29th, 2011
by erin.
No comments yet

Tortellini Salad

Date: 12/25/2011

Recipe: http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2010/01/balsamic-chicken-spinach-and-tomato-pasta-salad/

Time to table: 30 minutes

Modifications: Since this was a side dish, we left out the chicken. We also doubled this. I didn’t use Newman’s Own dressing, just some generic balsamic.

Servings: I think there were around … oh, 17 adults or something? The single recipe would easily feed 6 I think.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike, would not try a bite.

Notes: Everyone really liked this! It felt very summery (as most of the ingredients are freshest in summer obviously) which was a nice change of pace – but obviously this would be better in the summer using actual fresh ingredients. Stuff like basil and tomatoes right now are pretty sad, but I still enjoyed it despite that.

Corn & cheese chowder

Nov 10th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Cheesy Corn Chowder
Doesn’t look like much, but it’s fantastic.

Date: 11/7/2011

Recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/soups/corn-cheese-chowder/?print=1/#sizeFP

Time to table: 1 hour

Modifications: I added a couple stalks of diced celery because we had some for other meals this week.

Servings: 5 adult dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Like/Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was an awesome soup that I’ll definitely make again, I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow for lunch (We saved the leftovers for dinner tonight). We didn’t use bread bowls, but I can imagine that would be delicious. We had this for leftovers tonight and I made the mistake of crushing up some crackers in Annie’s bowl. She recognized the crackers and proceeded to pick the cracker pieces out and just eat those. Ugh.

Annie chowing on chowder

Cheesy Corn Chowder

Sweet potato chili…….again

Oct 14th, 2011
by ben.
3 comments

Sweet Potato Chili
Date: 10/12/2011

Recipe:

28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 cup dried black beans (or one 15 oz can)
1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo sauced, seeded and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 small bell peppers, diced
1 packet of chili seasoning (or make your own) 

Soak the beans overnight (if you’re using dried beans)

In the morning, chop up all the veggies.

Put the tomatoes and water into the crockpot with the seasoning and mix it in well

Add all of the ingredients

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream if that’s your thing (and it is most definitely OUR thing). I also love having my chili over pasta, ever since my friend Scott introduced me to that concept a couple years ago.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time

Servings: 4 adult dinners, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: I totally screwed up the beans here. I let the soak overnight and then put it all in the crock pot in the morning, but the beans didn’t finish cooking by the time we ate it, so the beans were hard on the outside still. Certainly edible and it was still delicious, but it would be even better with fully cooked beans. I partly blame our crockpot because it doesn’t seem to get as hot as other crock pots. We served this with leftover frozen cornbread muffins. Annie devoured all of this with reckless abandon.

Sweet Potato chili

Eating Sweet Potato chili

Corn bread skillet

Oct 4th, 2011
by ben.
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Cornbread skillet

Date: 9/27/2011

Recipe: This recipe was from our CSA newsletter and it was great because it used a ton of the veggies from our box:

2 T oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
juice & zest of 1 lime
5 tomatillos, cored and chopped
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 can pinto or black beans
3 T cilantro, minced
1 c cornmeal
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 c plain yogurt
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil in oven proof skillet and saute onions for a couple minutes and then add the leeks. After another minute add the garlic, cumin, coriander, potatoes, and peppers. Saute for a couple minutes and add the lime juice/zest, tomatillos, tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring periodically, for about 8-10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 and prepare the cornbread topping: sift together the dry ingredients. Whisk together egg and yogurt and mix into dry ingredients and set aside. Stir beans and cilantro into skillet and top with cornbread batter. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Add shredded cheese and return to oven for 3-5 more minutes, until golden and browning on the edges.

Time to table: 75 minutes

Modifications: I didn’t use any tomatoes because we didn’t have any, and we had also just used the all the leeks in the soup the night before, so we didn’t include that.

Servings: 2 adult dinners, 3 adult lunches, 1 toddler dinner

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This was kind of blah. Definitely should use more cheese than is called for. I think the cornbread is a little too dry and crumbly for this kind of dish, it would have been better with a fluffier dough I think. Oh well, we got some lunches out of it and it used up a lot of veggies.

Cornbread skillet

Cornbread skillet
Looks like scrambled eggs with cheese!

Vegetable Lasagna

Jul 6th, 2011
by erin.
No comments yet

Veggie Lasagna

Date: July 1, 2011

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/04/vegetable-lasagna/

Modifications: The veggies I used were: one eggplant, one zucchini, one summer squash, and one red pepper. I realized halfway through that I only got 15oz of ricotta cheese, but it still seemed to be plenty. I used no boil noodles. I didn’t use the wine because there was none up at the cabin.

Time to table: Nearly an hour prep, and an hour to bake on the grill

Servings: probably 10 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Love (yes!! I just love it when she willingly eats something with this many vegetables.

Notes: It was hotter than hot that day, but we had all the ingredients and this was our last night up at the cabin so I still wanted to make this lasagna. My dad offered to try grilling it on the charcoal grill using indirect heat instead of turning the oven on and heating up the already scorching upstairs of the cabin, so we gave it a whirl! I think we did around 40 minutes covered in foil and maybe 20 uncovered, and he rotated it a few times. It worked surprisingly well! (I’m tagging this with CSA, even though we only used our parsley in this because it’d be a great dish to use up a lot of late summer veggies)

Veggies for lasagna

Veggie Lasagna

Veggie Lasagna on the grill

 

Warm Potato Salad

Jun 22nd, 2011
by erin.
No comments yet

Brat and potato salad

Date: June 19, 2011

Recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/New-York-Potato-Salad-1454 (very loosely based)

  • about 8 small red potatoes
  • 3 slices bacon
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 3 stems green garlic, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • Chopped garlic chives
  • Salt & Pepper

1. Quarter potatoes and boil until fork tender.

2. Fry bacon, when done remove from pan and chop.

3. Add pepper, onion, and celery to bacon grease and saute until soft.

4. Mix vinegar, mustard, mayo, yogurt, sugar and paprika in a medium bowl, season with salt and pepper.

5. Put potatoes, veggies, and bacon in a bowl. Toss with dressing and top with chives. Can be eaten warm or cold.

Modifications: See above. I cut up the potatoes small for Annie. Garlic chives and green garlic were used because we have some from our CSA.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 side dishes

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This was inspired by our recent visit to Black Forest Inn – I found a recipe that sounded vaguely similar on epicurious and just modified it to suit the way we remembered the potato salad there. This was delicious as a side dish to a grilled brat on a summer evening! Annie was not a huge fan of the potato salad but did enjoy her brat.

Potato salad

 

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